1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle navigation system, and more particularly to a vehicle navigation system using live images which not only maps driver""s current position input from a global positioning system (GPS) receiver with a a geographic information system (GIS) to indicate the distance between driver""s current position and his destination, shortest travelling distance and route possible, and previously driven trace, but also provides an image input from a camera set up at the selected place on a real-time basis if a place is selected to take a close look at the traffic situation, so that the driver can drive, directly checking the traffic situation of the selected place.
2. Description of the Prior Art
GPS is a satellite navigation system that has been developed by US department of defense. Radio wave signals generated by atomic frequencies of three to four satellites are received to estimate a distance to those satellites by using the propagation time of radio wave signals. Finally, driver""s current position is obtained by measuring velocity of the vehicle with a three (or two) dimensional phase positioning method and Doppler effect of radio wave.
As described above, the vehicle navigation system using live images of the present invention includes the aforementioned vehicle navigation system in which signals of GPS satellites are used for mapping with GIS to provide information on distance between the current position and destination of the vehicle, time to be taken to reach the destination, and so on, marking the current position and destination of a running vehicle on a map.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram for illustrating a vehicle navigation system using the conventional GPS.
As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional vehicle navigation system using GPS comprises: a GPS receiver 11 for receiving signals transmitted from GPS satellites; a main control unit 12 for estimating the current position of a vehicle with the signals input from the GPS receiver and mapping it with GIS; and a display unit 13 for marking and displaying it to a driver of the vehicle.
Also, a key input unit 14 is also included in the conventional vehicle navigation system for controlling the degree of zooming up the map displayed at the display unit 13.
However, there is a problem in the conventional vehicle navigation system in that only current position and destination of a vehicle or current position and previously driven route are marked through GPS in a map without any information on traffic or road conditions from outside, thereby presenting a considerable limitation in use.
In order to solve the aforementioned problem, a method for estimating and marking the shortest route between current position and destination of a vehicle has been accompanied with another method disclosed in patent No. 1997-9165 (Jun. 07, 1997) titled xe2x80x9cVehicle navigation system using global positioning system and pager networking system and information data processing method for the samexe2x80x9d, in which the pager networking system is used for displaying traffic or road condition in a map to easily reach the destination.
However, there is also a problem in the aforementioned method for providing text information on the shortest distance or the traffic or road situation by using the pager networking system in that it is difficult for the driver to accurately grasp the traffic situation with briefly summarized text information without actually viewing the traffic condition.
In addition, there is another problem in the aforementioned method in that all the information on traffic or road condition is collected from a plurality of places and then provided in total so that the driver cannot obtain current information on traffic or road condition on the real-time basis, but only information on traffic or road conditions happened in the past.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to solve the aforementioned problem and provide a vehicle navigation system using live images, in which driver""s current position measured by GPS is used for mapping with a geographic information system to immediately indicate driver""s current position, shortest traveling distance and route to destination and previously driven trace along with a live image input from a camera set up at a place about which the driver has selected to collect necessary information.
In order to accomplish the aforementioned object of the present invention, there is provided a vehicle navigation system using live images comprising:
a GPS receiver for receiving signals transmitted from GPS satellite;
a display unit for indicating driver""s current position and image in the geographic information system;
a key input unit for manipulating a variety of control keys;
a plurality of cameras set up at a plurality of places for taking pictures of traffic or road condition at predetermined places;
an image input unit for receiving images captured by a plurality of cameras;
an image server for selectively outputting an image captured by a camera set up at a place corresponding to a position value of a signal input from the image input unit;
a first data transmitting and receiving unit for transmitting an image output from the image server and receiving the position value;
a second data transmitting and outputting unit for transmitting a position value and receiving an image through continuous communication with the first data transmitting unit; and
a main control unit for calculating to determine the position with the signal input from the GPS receiver, outputting driver""s position mapped in the geographic information system and the image input from the second data transmitting and receiving unit to a display unit, controlling the display unit according to the value input from the key input unit and outputting the position value through the second data transmitting and receiving unit.
At this time, the first and second data transmitting and receiving units can be interconnected through a wireless internetworking system.
Furthermore, the image input unit receives images output from a plurality of cameras set up at a plurality of places through a wireless or cable networking system.
The vehicle navigation system of the present invention thus constructed maps driver""s current position input from the GPS receiver with GIS and marks it in the display unit. If the driver selects a place to view the traffic situation with the key input unit, the system also transmits a position value of the selected place to the image server which receives the image input from a camera set up at the place relevant to the position value and outputs it to the display unit. As a result, the driver can travel, directly check the traffic situation of a selected place on a real-time basis.